Ungifted
by usually mostly innocent
Summary: "You're alive," my breath caught in my throat, "Oh, thank the spirits, you're alive!" He was pale and as still as a dead man, but he was breathing and I felt his heartbeat under my hands.
1. Think

Kahlan had sternly ordered me to stay back, to hide under the relative safety of the overturned wagon. I hadn't thought she needed to do that. I didn't _want_ to run out into the middle of a battle. It wasn't as though I were a great warrior who would save the day, like them.

But when Zedd went down and Nicci's sword drove toward my brother's head, I didn't think of those things. I just saw my grandfather on the ground, perhaps dead, and my brother - the only family I had left - about to follow.

"Richard!" I screamed, dashing forward without thought. The sounds of war surrounded and deafened me. _Clang_ of sword on sword, _slishck_ of sword in flesh, screams of dying men and horses.

Chaos closed in about me, but I scrambled through, not thinking of the danger, not really thinking at all. No one would stop the battle for one half-grown girl. On the other hand, no one would go out of his way to kill me either. I quite obviously didn't belong here.

Duck a stray arrow. Ignore the pain when a soldier tramples my foot. Dodge a flying sword.

Dodge a flying sword?

All this time, my eyes had been fastened to my brother. With Kahlan and Zedd by his side, he fought the sorceress Nicci in a circle of open space - probably kept clear by the sorceress herself.

Even though I hadn't taken my eyes off him for a moment, I'd been moving too fast to really process anything going on in that circle.

And then a sword came flying at my head. As it flew past, the sun glinted off the word _truth_ on its hilt.

Richard's sword.

He was defenseless.

I didn't look to see if she'd already killed him, although I thought dazedly that she must have. Again, my body moved on its own and I reached for the weapon as it shot through the air.

Caught it by the blade.

I was so focused on getting the sword back to my brother that I didn't notice the sharp metal biting into my palm or the blood already running down my forearm. I raced forward, ducking and diving through the madness.

Stumbled into the open circle.

Kahlan leaped in front of the weaponless Richard and tossed him one of her knives. Four slow seconds had passed since I first screamed my brother's name.

Now they both fought the sorceress. Zedd was a pile of sooty rags and spindly limbs on the edge of my vision.

Nicci fought with a pleased smile playing over her red lips. Her double-ended blade spun between Richard and Kahlan until it blurred, but she didn't even break a sweat.

My brother and the woman he loved hacked back at her with intense concentration. Neither were at their best. Kahlan was used to having a dagger in each hand, and Richard usually fought with his sword.

His sword. In my hand.

Just then Nicci's gauntleted forearm struck Kahlan upside the head, and she crumpled to the ground. Richard howled and dove at Nicci just as I yelled his name and threw the Sword of Truth.

It sliced through the air, glittering like a cruel gem.

I had meant for Richard to catch it, knowing that he fought better with it in his hands. My aim was off, though, and the sword hit Nicci in her right upper arm instead. Her sword arm.

She must not have been expecting a threat from someone as small and unskilled as me, because she bled and stopped smiling for the first time.

Richard had learned his lesson after looking for Zedd, so he didn't glance back to see who'd thrown the sword. He just snatched his weapon off the ground and flew at Nicci with renewed strength.

I stood frozen in place, my heart beating out of my chest. All the killing and hysteria around me blurred - narrowed down to my brother and the sorceress.

The end was quick and unexpected.

In a sudden movement, Richard grabbed Nicci's arm where the sword had wounded her. She cried out, and her blade faltered on its way to meet his.

He stabbed the Sword of Truth through her heart.

A rapid shockwave spread out from Nicci's body. It was both silent thunder and blinding light. When it ended and I could see again, I was the only one left standing in that circle of cleared ground. Richard had collapsed.

While Richard and Nicci fought, my fear had frozen me in place. Now I rushed forward.

My knees buckled beneath me when I reached Richard's side. I laid my trembling fingers on his chest, and it moved lightly with his breath.

"You're alive," my breath caught in my throat, "Oh, thank the spirits, you're alive!"

He was pale and as still as a dead man, but he was breathing and I felt his heartbeat under my hands. I desperately scoured his body for a wound, but found none. Then why was he lying here, not moving?

It must've been Nicci's light and thunder.

Magic.

_Grandfather_.

I leaped to my feet. How could I have forgotten?

My head twisted from side to side, the wind slapping my hair across my face, and I found Grandfather. Instantly, I hurried over the hot sand and knelt next to him.

He lay on his back, black everywhere with soot and scorch marks. His clothes had been almost completely burned away. I bit my lip.

"What do I do?" I whimpered.

I wanted to wake him up, but I didn't know how to without touching him. His skin was black and red from the burns. He was so swollen that his wrinkles had vanished.

I blinked away the tears blurring my eyes. "Grandfather?" I whispered. He lay still - as still as Richard.

"Grandfather, please."

I couldn't stop the tears now. He must be dead. No one could look like that and be alive.

But this wasn't the time for tears. I had to help Richard somehow, and I didn't know what to do.

Kahlan.

She had only been knocked unconscious, and she was the Mother Confessor. Kahlan would know what to do.

I dashed over to her.

One of her eyes was swollen shut, and an enormous purple bruise streaked the left side of her face. Her long, dark hair splayed out over the ground, mingling with the sand. I clung to her arm and shook her.

"Kahlan!" a panicked sob hitched in my throat, "Kahlan! Richard needs your help!"

A low groan left her lips, and her head lolled to one side. She didn't wake up.

What now?

I looked around desperately. Somehow, the circle of ground that had been clear for the fight was still open. It was as though there were some line that the soldiers couldn't cross.

Richard's warriors just stood around and watched. Nicci's army must've withered away after she died.

"Somebody help me!" I screamed. "They're not dead!"

The soldiers just shook their heads. One tried to step forward, but his foot froze in midair until he drew it back.

Nicci was dead. How was it possible that they still couldn't cross?

Well, it was obviously magic that stopped them, whatever the source. I'd only made it through because magic didn't affect me.

"Mord'Sith repel magic," I murmured. "Cara could get through."

Where _was_ Cara?


	2. Change

_A year later_

Whispers surrounded me until I couldn't hear anything else. They made me want to clamp my hands over my ears and shrink into a corner.

"It's her - the Pristinely Ungifted One," the voice was soft, fearful.

And, in an awed whisper, "Sister of Lord Rahl."

I hated being honored and bowed to over things that had nothing to do with me.

Richard had taken his place in the People's Palace only two weeks ago, after a months-long struggle to kill Darkken Rahl again. It was much harder the second time around, since he had broken Nicci until her powers were his to command.

My brother won in the end, of course, as he does with anything he puts his mind to, and the adventure was added to the collection of bedtime tales mothers told their children about him. However, his sudden station as ruler of D'Haara had changed life as I knew it dramatically. I lived in the People's Palace with him now, and - everywhere I went - people scurried out of my way, speaking my title in hushed tones.

It was awful.

The same thing happened to Richard when he went outside, but at least he'd done something to deserve it. Bowing and scraping around him made sense. After all, he'd killed an evil tyrant twice over and won a war with the Keeper of the Underworld.

But me? I was only his little sister. I hadn't done anything special; I'd never saved the world. And still crowds parted no matter where I was!

"Hurry, children, out of Ungifted One's way. Let her pass." A bone-thin woman with a baby on one hip scolded her children away from me. "Amma! Myra! Now!" Two girls with light hair and large eyes scurried away from me, and I wanted to cry out that it was fine, they could play wherever they wanted.

I didn't say anything, though. The last time I'd tried something like that, the man I'd spoken to grew suddenly clumsy and stumbled all over an apology for displeasing me.

He reminded me of one of Kahlan's confessed, and that scared me.

So, now I didn't try to stop people from honoring me whenever I left the Palace. I just worked to ignore it and get to where I was going.

I watched the little girls cling to their mother's skirts and stare after me as I walked by. When I looked away, I heard the older one whisper to her playmate, "She's the Pristinely Ungifted One."

Her chubby finger was pointed at me when I glanced over my shoulder, and I hurriedly turned back to the road ahead.

No one ever called me Jennsen anymore.

When Richard became Lord Rahl and I moved into the People's Palace with him, I was suddenly transformed into someone else.

I love children, and they used to flock to me. Now they ran away. I used to make my own bed and meals. Now servants did for me. I used to be able to take long walks alone whenever I wanted, to wherever I wanted. Now I had to have a guard with me at all times.

There was one behind me right now. I didn't have to look to know he was there, silently protecting me in the red and black of a D'Haaran soldier.

I sighed, rubbing a fold of my silky gown between forefinger and thumb, then smoothing it back into place.

I used to be Jennsen, Richard's sister.

Now I was the Pristinely Ungifted One and sister of Lord Rahl.

Shadows of the towers and arches of the People's Palace fell over me as I drew close. When I'd first arrived, their size had scared me. I was used to it now. Quickly, I moved through the palace's winding halls and passages and headed toward the kitchen.

Grandfather was almost always there, searching for something to fill his ever-hungry belly. I needed to talk to someone. Richard would've been my first choice, but he and Kahlan were so busy all the time.

He was running a kingdom now, of course; and Kahlan had left for Aydindril a week ago. I didn't watch them say goodbye. It was sad enough to see the torn-in-two look on Richard's face whenever someone mentioned Kahlan. He always caught himself after a few seconds and masked his pain, but I was his sister. I knew when he was hurting.

Even Cara was gone, protecting Kahlan on the journey to Aydindril. Not that Kahlan really needed to be protected, of course, but Richard worried. Cara ought to be back in a few days. I knew she'd travel much faster alone on her way back to Lord Rahl's side than she did traveling away with Kahlan.

But even if Cara were here right now, she wasn't the kind of person I'd go to with my troubles. The woman actually scared me a little. Funny thing is, I bet she'd be glad if she knew. Which she probably did.

Clatter, raised voices, and tantalizing smells told me I was close to the kitchen. I sniffed, then grinned. Today was bread day.

Grandfather would most certainly be there.

I slipped in quietly and was at once submerged in another world. People rushed about their business, yelling instructions and clanging pots, without taking any notice of me.

I liked it.

Spotting Grandfather didn't take long. He sprawled over a chair in a corner, just barely out of everyone's way. The mountain of bread on the table in front of him could've fed everyone in the kitchen. I stifled a laugh and wove my way through the busy people - something I hadn't done in a long time.

He probably knew I was there the moment I'd slipped through the kitchen door, but he didn't officially notice me until he'd finished the loaf of bread in his hand and I was seated across the table from him.

"Jennsen!" he proclaimed, "this bread is beyond the best. I would tell you that you must try some if I didn't intend to eat it all myself." He gestured wildly with his long, spindly arms, nearly knocking over a kitchen girl. Completely unruffled, she dodged the danger and went about her business. Her calm told me this happened often.

I giggled.

If I didn't know Grandfather so well, I would've said he had no idea that something was bothering me. However, that not being the case, I realized he knew perfectly well that I wasn't happy. He'd simply decided that the best thing for me was a fat slice of buttered bread and one of his wonderful stories.

He was right, as usual. I laughed until my gut ached and my eyes watered, cried when I was supposed to, and clapped delightedly when the tale ended and he performed a theatrical bow.

Several of the servants nearest us had gotten caught up in Grandfather's story, their hands forgetting to work as they listened. Now they turned back to their jobs with a new level of diligence. I buried a smile.

"Was that a true tale, Grandfather?"

He looked down at me after stuffing his face with the last of the bread. "What do you think?"

"I think you exaggerated to make yourself look better," I announced, only just managing to stay serious.

"Oh! My dear girl!" He clapped a long-fingered bony hand over his heart and rolled his eyes dramatically. "You slay me with your heartless accusations."

My lips twitched. "I think you'll be just fine after a few more pieces of bread."

Grandfather's bushy eyebrows twisted into an insulted glare. Just as he opened his mouth to retaliate (probably with something about _loaves_, not _pieces_!), all activity in the kitchen suddenly stopped.

"Lord Rahl," everyone whispered, lowering their gazes respectfully.

I turned around in my chair to look back at the door. Richard stood there, flanked by Mord'Sith and wearing the Sword of Truth on his hip. His face was grave. Ordinarily, he would at least grin at me; or wink, if the occasion was too formal.

Something must be wrong.

"Zedd," he said.

Grandfather swiftly unfolded himself from the chair and hurried out of the room after him. He didn't stop to tell me goodbye, or even what was going on, but simply smiled reassuringly on his way past.

Without stopping to think, I scurried after them.


End file.
